Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
P&G, Henkel, SC Johnson hit for ignoring safety accord
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Henkel Korea President Kim Yu-seok
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Three multinational consumer goods companies ― P&G Korea, SC Johnson Korea and Henkel Homecare Korea ― are in the hot seat for refusing to join the “renewed” agreement of household chemical products and biocides safety management.
The three importers were the members of the first agreement, which lasted for two years from February 2017 until February 2019.
The government rolled out its household chemical products safety management plan in November 2016 after the humidifier biocide scandal hit the nation, which resulted in more than 100 deaths.
Under guidance of the Ministry of Environment, the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) and Eco Justice, the multinational companies were required to disclose information on chemical ingredients of products, implement an internal audit of product ingredients and follow safety management guidelines for household chemicals.
“We understand that it could be tricky for global companies to disclose all product ingredients, but the only difference from the first agreement is the implementation of risk assessment on products,” a KFEM official said.
“The assessment is not intended to criticize the companies. It is designed to replace toxic chemicals with other substances if necessary and enhance companies' social responsibility to assure consumer safety.”
SC Johnson Country Manager Lee Seung-chul
KFEM campaigns against the existence of toxic chemicals, endocrine disrupters, carcinogenic materials that are embedded in materials, according to the organization.
On Wednesday, KFEM and Eco Justice made an official remark on the absence of P&G Korea, SC Johnson Korea and Henkel Homecare Korea, saying they are disappointed that the three companies are not showing enough responsibility for consumer safety.
“Henkel Home Care Korea is a company that was condemned for its humidifier biocide scandal and P&G Korea is still under suspicion of its product safety,” the organization said in a statement.
The three companies have decided not to join the second agreement, which was signed by a total of 19 consumer goods and household chemical companies on Wednesday.
Some of the participants include E-mart, LG Household & Health Care, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea and 3M Korea.
“We totally agree that the agreement's intentions are good for consumers and society. However, we think there needs to be a specific guideline to implement the risk assessment process,” a P&G Korea official said.
She said since P&G Korea is operated under strict guidelines of the U.S. headquarters, it expects the environment ministry and civic groups to present how they will conduct inspections of product ingredients.
“If we reach an agreement on ways to carry out safety inspections, we'll consider joining,” the official said.
“We are currently in discussion with the environment ministry about joining the second agreement,” a Henkel Korea official said.
“We are fully committed to the safety of consumers. We only sell products that have undergone toxicity testing and we will abide by domestic standards.”